Kid With a Cat
by SetYourPhasersToFun
Summary: The Avengers saw him as a kid. He could see it in the way they were overprotective of him. When he came home he was subjected to long questioning and an extensive look over for major injuries. But he didn't blame them. He was the youngest. And he knew that telling them he had adopted a stray kitten wouldn't make him seem any more mature.


A/N: Hi there! Thanks for viewing this! Just the fact that you are here, reading this, gives me the warm fuzzies. Anywho, I'm not entirely sure where this came from, so ... yeah. I just kind of wrote it and I had no idea where it was going. This is pretty much a perfect example of meaningless Spiderman-Avengers fluff.

A/N 2: Sorry in advance, if anyone thought this was an update! I just would like to thank you all for the great response to this fic! I literally can't stop smiling :D! Any ways, a few reviewers told me that I didn't mark this as complete? Darn technology. I have (tried to) fix it, because this is a one-shot. I don't want to get your hopes up for an update that will probably never come (Although I may get around to it eventually if my muse attacks). Thanks for all your encouraging words! I will certainly work hard to post something else here soon (like a possible Agents of Shield fic?). Anyone who has suggestions for me to write on, I will gladly take them! You guys have a blessed day! Have a virtual cookie while you're at it :)

But enough of my chatter. Enjoy!

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING AWESOME, LIKE MARVEL!

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"Mr. Parker, Sir wants to speak with you."

Peter Parker groaned obnoxiously loud. He had just come home to his cozy room in the Avengers Tower. Mumbling to himself, Peter shifted slightly to a more comfortable position and attempted to ignore the voice religiously. JARVIS must have taken the hint, as he didn't say anything else. Peter sighed and relaxed further into the bed, mashing his face into the blankets.

He imagined to himself how odd he must look. A teenager half clothed in red and blue spandex lying sideways on top of the covers. His face must have been dirty; the mask could only protect his head from filth so much. He huffed and tried not to think about the fact that he'd need another suit. This one was riddled with several tears and cuts. His skin reflected his costume; thankfully nothing was serious. _Banner will kill me if I come home again with anything worse than a few cuts._ Peter shuddered as he remembered Bruce's reaction to his broken wrist. Steve almost had to be called in to calm him down; after all, New York wasn't ready for another Hulk-out.

Peter jumped when something touched his arm. He blinked his eyes open and was met with the sight of a tiny tabby kitten sniffing his nose curiously. He smiled softly and flipped over on the bed so his face wasn't smashed into the covers anymore. He cradled the cat close to his slowly bleeding chest. With one hand, he scratched behind its ears while the other reached out to his nightstand. Peter grasped a small plastic bag and opened it with his teeth. The kitten followed the bag with its eyes and mewed beggingly once it was open. It reached out a baby paw pleadingly towards it and rubbed its face against Peter's half clothed collarbone.

"Fine, you little beggar."

Peter poured out a few cat treats and fed the kitten out of his hand. He cooed to it while it ate, purring all the while. When the kitten was done, he sat the bag aside and sat up. He gently placed the creature on top of his pillow and grabbed a change of clothes. Peter started towards the door when the kitten meowed loud and long. Spiderman dashed back to the bed and hushed it.

"Shh. I'll be back in a bit. Now keep quiet, the others can't know you're here."

The kitten yawned and curled up on his pillow; as if to say _I'll be here when you get back._ Peter grinned and left his room, heading to the shower. Thankfully, he didn't meet anyone on the way there. Peter didn't feel like explaining his shallow wounds to the Avengers.

The Avengers had welcomed him in when he had no family left. A pang still struck Peter's heart every time he thought about it. After Gwen's funeral, Peter was diagnosed as depressed by his doting aunt. She tried her best to pull him out of his funk, but no one could help him but himself. And with time, he did just that. Being recruited by SHIELD and the Avengers followed shortly after. But as with anything in his life, it came with a cost.

He could remember the fear and loneliness he felt when he saw his sweet Aunt May dead by the hands of an anti-SHIELD terrorist.

Being a possible new recruit and close friend of the Avengers, Stark pulled a couple strings to get Peter a room with him in the Tower. He was welcomed with open arms and a tight hug from Thor. He settled in easily enough, but Peter still felt like an outsider. It couldn't be helped. He was just a nineteen-year-old kid with a spider bite and they were a team of Earth's greatest warriors. And this is what led him to think that keeping his new friend a secret was a good idea.

The Avengers saw him as a kid. He could see it in the way they were overprotective of him. When he came home he was subjected to long questioning and an extensive look over for major injuries. But he didn't blame them. He was the youngest. And he knew that telling them he had adopted a stray kitten wouldn't make him seem any more mature. Revealing that would destroy any progress he made of being a man in their eyes, not a child. So he kept his kitten a secret for as long as possible. But of course, Clint _had _to find out.

Needless to say, Peter was a bit surprised when he re-entered his room to see a deadly archer cuddling his tabby kitten.

The pair stood in silence for a good couple minutes. Peter was uncomfortable and waiting for Clint's reaction to it. Clint was enjoying the kid's awkwardness. Finally, he relented and spoke.

"So what's her name?"

"I uh… I haven't actually chosen one yet."

Clint made a disapproving noise. "Shame, shame Peter. A beautiful animal like this needs a name. Isn't that right?" The archer addressed the last part to the kitten, talking in a light baby voice that was odd coming from a trained assassin. He punctuated his sentence by waving his finger around the tabby; who was trying to bat it with a fuzzy paw. "Aww." He chorused when the cat nibbled the end of his finger playfully.

Peter threw his ruined costume into the garbage can, hoping the archer wouldn't notice. But of course, he did.

"There are only so many of those you can go through before Tony takes it upon himself to upgrade it to missile-proof level. As it is, he's been working on an enhanced suit to be more aerodynamic, or some other science crap."

Peter ducked his head in acknowledgement and leaned against the wall awkwardly. Clint was really enjoying this with a tiny smirk on his face. The archer kept his attention on the kitten, but clearly knew everything Peter was doing.

Clint stood up suddenly, cradling the tabby in his muscular arms. He smiled. "Maybe the rest of the team has some ideas for a name." He started off towards the door. Peter panicked. He couldn't let the Avengers think of him as some little kid!

"Clint wait!"

The archer paused and turned his head to hear Spiderman better. He tipped his head quickly, _I'm waiting._

"Ah...um…" Peter thought quickly, looking for a cover up that wouldn't seem too obvious. "I… Uh…"

"Out with it, kid." Clint said with a smile. He really was enjoying this too much.

"I ummm… don't think the kitten would like to leave this room. At all. Like, she ah… gets stressed easily?" He ended his explanation with a bit of a wince. He sighed and dropped his gaze to the ground. Peter's shoulders slumped slightly with defeat. And that's when Clint knew that there was more to meet the eye with Peter Parker.

The archer knew how to read body language. He also knew Peter's body language.

Clint knew that this was way too much of a defeated look to be connected with a cat alone. When they normally joked around, Peter would act similarly with defeat. But his shoulders would always be high and defiant. A drop of the shoulders with Peter Parker was a very bad thing indeed. He was hiding something. Peter was hiding his emotions so he didn't look weak among a team of hardened warriors.

Clint himself didn't have much experience in the way of emotional comfort. He found that he wished for Banner to be present, or even Stark for that matter. Anyone on the team was more equipped for this situation than him. But they weren't there and a little spider needed someone to talk to. The archer softened his features slightly. Not a little spider, their little spider.

Clint stepped back and resumed his spot sitting on the bed. He held the kitten in one hand while patting the bed next to him with the other. Peter hesitated. He had a bad feeling about this, but how could one argue with a superspy?

He sighed and sat down next to Clint, petting the cat half-heartedly. Peter would have to name her eventually. Valerie? Anne? Yvonne? Nothing seemed to fit the cuddly creature. Clint threw off his train of thought.

"Ok, Spiderman. Spill. What's bothering you?"

"I ah… Don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, I know something's wrong. I can see it in your body language."

"What?! You can do that? What other obscene skills do you have?"

"Stop deflecting. I get that enough from Stark."

Peter didn't respond. He kept his gaze firmly on his kitten. Diane? Harper? Toby? Maybe the last one. Clint sighed loudly and put his forehead in a hand. He massaged his temples in a show of frustration.

"All right, at least attempt to work with me. You know I don't do emotions. This is a bit of effort on this side; you can put some energy into this conversation. So, spill. Why don't you want me to share the cat with the team?

Peter sucked in a breath and felt his hormonal teenage emotions surge to the surface. He tried to hide his insecurities, but Clint was spot on. He released the breath loudly and gathered his thoughts in another quiet moment. Barton was patient and the silence was companionable. The archer waited quietly until Peter was ready to talk.

And talk he did.

"Has anyone seen Clint? I need my pranking buddy." Tony proclaimed loudly.

"I have not seen the Hawk, son of Stark." Thor boomed even louder.

"Inside voice, Point Break. And where's Romanoff? I've got some cool toys for her. JARVIS! Where is she?" Tony spoke quickly in his own style of Stark-ness. JARVIS responded that Natasha was not in the tower, but Bruce was down in the labs.

"Yay! Science bro time! Don't break anything, Hammer time. Or try to cook. Last time you used the microwave I had to hang those air freshener tree things everywhere for two months. I don't want a repeat of that stink bomb. Ciao!"

Tony waved behind him as he walked away, still talking to himself about various designs to improve. And in mid sentence, Hawkeye appeared with an arm over Peter's shoulders. In the other arm, he held something small and fuzzy.

"Clint! Birdman! Pranking buddy! There you are! Where have you been? I've been scheming but no one has been around to hear the genius and applaud. But you brought Peter with you, so I'll forgive you for now. What's that in your arm? Is it an alien, 'cause we already have one alien more than I handle and I can't deal with another. Oh and I've got a new composite material suit for you to try on, Spiderman. Maybe we can do something about the colors on it. I'm thinking something more along the lines of red and gold. Yeah, that sounds pretty good, right?" Stark looked at the pair expectantly. "Come on, I don't share my genius ideas with just anyone. The least you could do is clap. Or bow down at my feet. Either will do."

Peter grinned. Tony's antics always amused him. Speaking of, Stark grabbed Clint's arm and dragged him towards the elevator. "Come on, pranking buddy! The unsuspecting await!" Peter pulled the tabby from the archer as he left. Spiderman gave a small salute as Clint sent a pleading glance his way. Tony's never ending word stream faded as the two entered the elevator and sped away to lay traps for the team to find later. Peter smiled and stroked the kitten. Yeah, this cat looked like a Toby.

"What Midgardian creature is this? If it is a danger I shall vanquish it!" Thor held out his hand as if to summon his hammer.

"Whoa Thor! No need for the hammer! Last time you called it you destroyed six walls. And this 'creature' is called a cat. A kitten to be exact. and it's purrrfectly harmless." Thor didn't understand the pun, but looked placated at the reassurance of a non-lethal creature. Peter huffed and waved Thor over to see the tabby.

"This...Cat?" Thor looked up for approval. "It is… adorable. It is similar to the main dish of a grand Asgardian feast. Is this creature a proper morsel for cooking?"

"No Thor. You don't eat cats." The asgardian looked slightly disappointed. "Cats are pets here. Er, companions." Peter elaborated when he received a blank look. The mentioned cat reached out a paw to say _pet me, slaves._

"What's her name?" a new voice asked from across the room. Peter turned to see Natasha walk in from who-knows-where.

"I uh… I've decided on Toby."

"Toby the tabby? Cute." Was all she said on her way to the bar. The superspy poured herself a glass of Vodka. If Peter was honest, the Widow still really scared him. He was surprised that she even acknowledged his name choice. Maybe Clint talked to her about treating him like an adult. The two spies did seem to have a telepathic connection though.

The room was silent for a time. Thor was trying his best to figure out the TV remote while Natasha was enjoying her Russian drink. Peter stood awkwardly for a moment before sitting down on the couch and petting Toby.

Peter didn't know when, but eventually the Avengers gathered on the couch around him. Tony blathered on about a movie he wanted Steve to watch, but couldn't because "the fan boy Coulson begged Fury for a mission with him." Clint argued with Stark on the movie choice just for the point of arguing while Banner made a quiet suggestion. Peter just watched the drama unfold until the Widow stepped up and declared that she wanted to see a chick flick. All the guys in the room groaned, but didn't dare stop her. No one wanted to see an angry Natasha that night. Or ever, for that matter. So the team all piled on the couch and Clint made some popcorn, which he flicked at Stark for the whole movie. At some point, Peter's exhaustion from the day caught up with him and he fell asleep among his friends, Toby curled up on his lap.

Peter must have started a trend. By the end of the movie, nearly the whole team was sleeping. Thor was sprawled out on the floor in front of the couch. Tony was sideways in an armchair that had Bruce leaning against it, drool leaking down his face slightly. Peter was at one end of the couch, leaning against Clint. Natasha was cuddled with the archer on the other side of the couch. Seeing everyone else sleeping, Barton whispered into Peter's hair.

"We may treat you like a child, or eventually like an adult. But you will always be our kid. And I wouldn't change it for the world."

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A/N: Review? This is my first fanfiction, so I would appreciate a few opinions on how I did, even if this fic didn't have any real plot. Have a blessed day!


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